People Are Safe in Colt Conditions: Smoke Control Systems, Smoke Ventilation Systems, Smoke Vents
Colt smoke control systems ensure that if there is a fire, smoke is contained and removed, allowing safe evacuation and fire-fighting, and minimising damage. Colt pioneered the science of smoke control and has funded much of the public research for over 50 years.
Colt smoke control systems:
- Maintain clear escape and access routes
- Facilitate fire fighting operations
- Delay and/or prevent flashover
- Protect the contents of the building
- Reduce the damage to the building
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The key components of smoke and fire ventilation systems are fire dampers; ductwork; smoke curtains; and powered and natural smoke and heat extract systems (smoke vents).
Smoke Containment Systems
Smoke containment systems prevent the movement of smoke and heat from one area to another. These take the form of physical barriers either as smoke curtains or fire curtains, or as pressure differential systems, also known as pressurisation systems.
Smoke and Heat Exhaust Ventilation Systems - Smoke Vents
Also known as "SHEVs" (smoke and heat exhaust ventilators), this is the generic term for natural and powered smoke extract systems, sometimes known as fire or smoke vents. In general, these remove the smoke from the building allowing low level escape routes to be kept clear of smoke.
Car Park Ventilation Systems
Enclosed or underground car parks need smoke clearance ventilation to assist firefighting operations. These are often combined with fume ventilation to prevent the build-up of Carbon Monoxide in normal day to day use of the car park. Each car park is different and Colt will provide a scheme design to suit the exact requirements of the project. The system elements may include louvres, dampers, powered smoke extraction units, induction fans or impulse fans, depending on the situation.
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In 2004 Colt carried out comparative full-scale tests (PDF, 3 Mb) in an underground car park in Bristol, UK. The purpose of the tests was to demonstrate that the impulse and induction systems can provide an equivalent performance to traditional ducted systems. The tests showed that there was infact a significant improvement in the time taken to clear the car park of smoke when using the new systems compared with traditional ducted systems.
Click here to see this video on youtube
In 2005 Colt and the Building Research Establishment (BRE) carried out a series of full-scale hot smoke tests (PDF, 0.5 Mb), not only to demonstrate how well impulse systems can control the flow of smoke in a car park, but also to confirm the effectiveness of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling approach used by Colt. These tests included setting up a 35m x 30m x 3m test rig and setting light to a car shell containing a tray of diesel fuel to create a 1 MW fire size.
Click here to see this video on youtube
